Elevator signaling apparatus.



-sired UNITED-sra'rns V `i??nrnivr ourson.

ananas roman, or new Yoan, N. r., Assmann or oss-HALF ro :tornar w.Haanstra, or Naw Yoan, n, r.

ELEVATOB SIGNALING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application leii April 17, 1913. SerialNo. 761,728.

To all whom it ma concern:

Be it known t at I, THOMAS Fon'rnn, a subject of the King of GreatBritain, and a resident of the citof New Yorkborough of Brooklyn, in t ecounty of Iings and State of New York, have invented a new and Im rovedElevator Signalin Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear,and exact description. y

All modern elevator systems are provided with means at each oor by whicha passenger can indicate to the operators of the variousscars the factthat he desires a car to stop, The usual form of signaling device issome type of electric push button which either indicates to the operatorthe direction the passenger desires to travel or indicates only to thoseoperators traveling in the desited direction. In addition to the signalto the operator there is frequently an addi` tional signal at the floorindicating which car is to make the stop.

In most of-thcse systems the signals are set back to' their originalposition automati b thecar passing the floor in the dedirection and thisis done regardless of whether or not the car makes the stop for thepassenger. Some systems provide a button, called the transfer button,whereby the operator can prevent his car'from setting back the signalmaking the stop. 4.In this manner the following ear gets the signal andmakes the stop. This method is defective, however, as many times thesignal is received by the operator the floor from cally when he is sonea-r which the signal is given that he does not have time to make thestop or to even push the transfer but-ton, and as a consequence thesignal is set back, and succeeding cars, receiving no signal, do notstop. The pas songer, not being familiar with the details of thesignaling system, sees several cars pass before realizing the necessityof again pushing the' lnitton.A Where tlie service is heavy and rapidthis condition frequently occurs with the result that the elevatorservice is severely criticized for a condition which can notbe preventedwith the existing Sytm- Y It is the object of the4 present invention toovercome `the difficulties above mentioned by improving signalingsystems of the charin case he does notintend.

. acter referred to by providing an automatid cally-controlled switchfor each car, which operates to close the signal resetting circuit onlywhen a car vsto s at the floor where the signal is given, anconsequently, if avcar passes, intentionally or otherwise, theV licorwhere the signal is given, the signal will remain to notify theoperators of succeeding cars. .The ordinary transfer push button that isintended to be operated by the car Patented oet. 7,1913.

o eratoror conductor is dispensed with and v t e resetting circuits arecontrolled automatically by the cars themselves.

A specific object of the invention is the provision, of an automaticswitch inthe circuit of each reset magnetfor all the push button andsignal circuits of each shaft, the switch being preferably, although notnecessarily, a speed responsive device operatively connected with somemoving part of the car hoisting mechanism, so that, when the car 1sstopped, the speed responsive device will close the resetting circuitfor the particular' signal magnet that has beein energized by thepushino` of the signal button where the passenger desires to board thecar.

With these objects in view, and others as,

will appear as the description proceeds, the invention comprises variousnovel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will bemore fully described hereinafter and set forth with part-icularity inthe' claims appended hereto. Y

' In the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment of theinvention, and wherein similar reference characters are employed todesignate corresponding parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 isa diagrammatic view ofthe signaling system with my automatic transferswitch installed therein; Fig. 2 is a view of the hoisting mechanism forthe car, with theautomatic transfer switch applied thereto; Fig. 3 is aspeed responsive device for operating the transfer switch; and Fig. 4:is a side view showing the switch and speed responsive device. A 1

The present invention is shown in conne@ tion with a signaling system ofthat type disclosed in United States patent to Smalley & Reiners, Number643,220, but it is to be understood that the invention can be used a carby a. iioor where a passenger gives a stopping signal cuts out thesignals of all the other shafts of the elevator system;

In# order to obtain a comprehensionof the invention as applied to anelevator signaling system, such system will be briefly described inconnection with Fig. 1 wherein A designates one of a plurality` ofelevator cars to which an up or down stop signal can be given from anyfloor'by the buttons B, up and down buttons for floors 2, 3 and 4 beingshown, and for the same floors are the signal lights C. In the circuitsof the up push buttons and lights are the signal and reset magnets D,and in the circuitsof the down push buttons and lights are the signaland reset magnets E. The usual commutator mechanism F is employed at thetop of each elevator shaft for controlling the floor lights, car lightsand resetI magnets, after the method of operation disclosed in thepatent hereinbefore referred to. In the car A is the usual transferswitch or button 10. The same need not be employed as long as theautomatic transfer switch G is operative. In fact, thev transfer button10 can be eliminated if desired, as

the automatic transfer switch Gr will take care of the conditions ofservice that brought about the introduction of the transfer button inelevator cars.

The automatic transfer switch may be of any desired construction 'andoperated in any suitable manner, the purpose of the switch being to`automatically open the circuit of the resetting magnets and keep thecircuit open as long'as thev elevator cars are in motion, but as soon asany car stops at a floor the switch will close the circuit of theresetting magnet for the signal magnet of that particular floor. Asimple and eective automatic transfer switch vis shown in Figs. 3 and 4.The switch consists of a mercury cup 11 which is connected in circuit bythe wire 12, and with which is adapted to coperate a movable Contact 13vconnected in circuit by the wire 14, the said movable contact beingconnected with a lever 15 fulcrumed at 16, that is connected at 16a witha sleeve 17 slidablymounted on the governor shaft 18. On the shaft 18 isa speed re= sponsive device or governor 19, which causes the sleeve 17to move up and down according to the speed of the car, it beingunderstood that the shaft 18 rotates -as long as the car is moving, andhas a speed variable with that of the car. The switch G is preferablymounted within a protecting casing 20, which is located at the top of'the elevator y shaft, and is driven by some part that nieves with thehoisting mechanism of the car. 1n the bottom of the casing 20'is a shaft21 which has a' miter gear 22 meshing with a miter gear 23 on thegovernor shaft 18, the shaft 21 having on its outer end a pinion 24 by asprocket and chain mechanism 26 from` the hoisting drum 27, Fig. 2. Asthe car travels, the centrifugal elements of the speed responsivedev-ice 19 fly outwardly and raise the movable contact '13 out of themercury cup 11, as shown in Fig. 1, thereby opening the circuit of theresetting magnets. When the car slackens its speed to, say, one quarternormal speed, more or less, or when the car stops, the circuit w'ill beclosed by the speed responsive device permitting the movable contact 13to-lower into the mercury cup. When the car is stopped to take on apassenger the circuit of the resetting `magnet will be closed to resetor open the signal switch that was closed when the passenger pressed thecar signal button.

The various circuits will be traced out to show the operation of thesystem when a passenger presses one of the signal buttons, for instance,the down button aat the floor 4. Current now flows from the low voltagepush button circuit generator 28 through the wire 29, signal magnet 30,wire 31, push button a, return wire 32 and generator 28. The signalmagnet 30 of the down set for the fioor 4 is energized, attracting itsarmature or detent 33, so as to release such detent from the armature 34of the reset magnet 35,

whereby movable contact 36 connected with the armature will drop intothe mercury cup or fixed contact 37 of the iioor light circuit. As soonas a descending car reaches a distancev about two iioors above the floorwhere the signal push button has been pressed by a passenger desiring totake the next down car, the commutator mechanism F will close thecircuit for the down floor lamp It will be understood that thecommutator mechanism F is provided with a screw-actuated carriage whichmoves synchronously with the elevator car, said carriage carrying aseries'of bridging contacts which cooperate with the rows of contacts c,d and e, and contact bars f and g. When the fixed contacts of the c andd rows in the circuit of the down lamp I) are bridged by the travelingbridging contact It, the circuit will be completed so that current willHow from the high voltage generator 38 through the wire 39, branch 40,mercury cup switch 36, 37, wire 41, contact d, bridging contact h,contact c, wire 42, down lamp b, wire 43, common return wire 44 andgenerator 38. As there are several bridging contacts 7L, the lamp t atthe fourth iioor will be kept lighted for a suitable intervalv beforethe car reaches such floor. A little after the floor lamp b is lighted,a bridging contact i will close the circuit of the operators signal lamp45 in the car A, and current will pass from the generator 38 through thewires 39 and 40, mercury pot switch 36 and 37, wire 41, Contact d,bridging contact i, contact bar ,r

f, wire 46, operators signal light 45, wires 47 and 44 and generator 38.The operator is thuswarned that a passenger is waiting on floor 4 forhis car to stop to take aboard such passenger, as it will be understoodthat the operators signal lamp will light up only when the car isabout astory from that floor where theA stop is desired. As soon as the carstops, the automatic switch G will move to closed circuit position, sothat,4

as'soon as the car starts again on its course, the circuit'of theresetting ma net 35 will be closed, this being done by a ridginlgcontact j ofthe commutator mechanism coming into engagement with t-hecontacts whichv 'ture S33-'for the mercury potvswit'ch for the signalcircnit of the lampzBfwill be moved thereof, I desire to have itunderstood that to open circuit position, the armature 33 automaticallyengagin over the armature 34 to hold the said'switch open. Should thecar pass by the floor from which the signal was given, eitherintentionall or otherwise, theautomat-ic transfer switch G keeps the'circuit of the resetting ma ets o n', s o that the signal or signalsremain for t succeeding car or cars. Consequently the passenger does nothave to operate'the signal ush utton more thanonce, as the signa remainsuntil a car stops at the floor where such. signal is given."

From the foregoing connection .with the accompanying drawings, theadvantages of the method of o eration and of the apparatus 'shoiiin wil4be readily understood by those skilled inthe art to which the inventionappertains, and while I have described the best embodiment the apparatusshown is merely illustrative,

`and that suchjchan es maybe made when c desired as are within thescopeWo-f the appended claims. '1"

description talren in l .while the car is in motion,

vHaving thus described Imy inventidn, I claim as new and desire'tosecure by Let- '.i ters Patent:

1. vIn an elevator signaling system, the combination of a push buttoncircuit, a car signal circuit controlled thereby, 'a resettin circuitfor opening the signal circuit,

an an automatically-actuated device maintaining the 'resetting circuitopen whilev the car is m motion, and adaptedto close the resettingcircuit when the car stops at a floor from 'which the signal circuit wascontrolled.

2.]In an elevator signaling system, the

combination -of apush button circuit, a signal circuit' controlled bythepush button circuit, a-resetting circuit foropening the signal circuitwhen a car has-stopped to answer the. signal, and a'n automatic transferl switch controlling said resetting circuit by vthe motion of the car,said switch being open while the car is inv motion, and inc uding meanswhereby the switch closes when the car stops.

'3. In'fan elevator signaling system, the combination of a pus buttoncircuit, a signal circuit controlled by the push button circuit, aVresetting circuit for opening the v signal circuit when a car hasstopped to answer the si nal, an automatic transfer switch control ingsaid resetting circuit by the motion of the car, said switch comprisingrelativel movable contacts, and a speed responsive evice for lholdingthe contacts separated when the car is in motion, engaging the contactswhen the car stops.

' 4. In 'an elevator signal system, the cornbination .of a car, 'ahoisting mechanism therefor, and anautomatic transfer switchcontrolledby the speed of the hoisting mechanism,.with a push buttoncircuit, a. signal circuit ,controlled thereby, and a resetting circuitheld open by the said transfer switc close when the car stops, wherebythe signal circuit is opened or reset.

Inftestimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresencev of twosubscribing witnesses.

y c THOMAS PORTER. -Witnesses:

LC. B RADWAY., Pnnirr -.D. RoLLrnUs.

and adapted to and for

